Sunday, May 29, 2011

Drive-Thru (2007)

As the slasher trend in the 80's went on, some tried to mix this sub-genre with humor. Whilst there have been attempts at mixing slasher horror and laughs that worked ("April Fools Day", "Scream") many of them are just awkward ("Cheerleader Camp", "Graduation Day") and all around bad ("Aerobicide.") Granted, their are people who defend these movies, but I'm not writing for them now, am I? Anyways, 2007's "Drive-Thru" (which, unlike many movies Lionsgate releases straight-to-DVD, was actually produced by the company) tries to mix laughs and slasher movie gore, with a tip of the hat to the 80's slasher films.

The movie doesn't exactly open promisingly, in which a group of obnoxious "wigger" (I hate that word, but that's the only way to describe them) stereotypes stop by the local "Hella-Burger", only to be killed off by a killer dressed up as the burger joint's mascot, Horny the Clown. Yes, this is the level the humor is going after, and I thought to myself "This is going to be painful." Anyways, Mackenzie Carpenter (Leighton Meester) is a rebellious tough teen girl, whose friends and others start getting killed off by the killer clown, and he keeps leaving cryptic messages in chintzy 70's toys. Well, it turns out that the killer has a connection to her parents and the parents of those getting killed. Now, she's gotta stop Horny (I feel so stupid for saying the killer's name) before she turns 18-or at least until the detectives Dwayne Crockers (Larry Joe Campbell, who everyone keeps calling "crackers"-hey, I didn't write this shit) and Brenda Chase (Lola Glaudini) get her in jail.

To be fair, "Drive-Thru" has some great kills and gore (the highlight being the fried off face peeling off), but the impact of these kills is ruined by inappropriate, blaring Death Metal music (look folks, extreme metal does not equal scary, okay?) and the Godawful puns and one liners Horny delivers, not to mention the fact that he's nothing more than a terrible knock-off of Freddy Krueger. Acting wise, I'll give Leighton Meester this much-she's much better here than she was in "The Roommate", and she's got a likable screen presence and shows some real talent. Everyone else here isn't anyone particularly great, but they all fit their slasher movie stereotypes, though Campbell really grated on my nerves as the comical detective character.

Which leads to my biggest beef (pun intended) with the movie-none of it is as funny as the people behind it think it is. The fast food aspect is terrible, with annoying commercials and a cameo from Morgan Spurlock-yes, that one-as the manager of the Hella-Burger. We're supposed to laugh at this, but none of it is clever. I could go on about how hard it is to blend horror and comedy, but the whole thing feels lazy and forced. Some might like one liners like "Employee of the Month's 'bout to fuck you up!" and "Fast Food Kills Mother Fucker!", but it doesn't work for me.

To be fair, the movie wasn't as painful as I feared it would be, but it's still nothing I could recommend unless you happen to savor horror comedy movies at their cheesiest. Me? I enjoy some cheese, but this didn't do anything for me.

About Me

A Wright State University Graduate, Joseph Howell has been an avid horror fan since he was seven or eight years old-he has Godzilla movies to thank for that. He's now devoted some of his time to watching (and at times suffering through) horror and exploitation fair to review for your reading pleasure. Oh, and he loves Cherry Coke Zero, and he recommends eating popcorn while watching older genre movies.